Skip to main content

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Wednesday was our final full day at the conference. The worship has been great, but because there are many speakers from various denominational backgrounds I have found myself questioning a few statements. While there have been obvious soteriological and theological differences, there has been one common theme or emphasis from many of the speakers. If you don’t share the gospel, no one hears the gospel.

The common saying, “Share Christ with everyone, if possible use words” appears to be a cop out. We must have real conversations with people. We must also realize that these conversations are probably going to be messy; they are probably going to make us feel uncomfortable and put us in places that we would not normally be.

When we do finally have the opportunity to share Christ with someone, we should be careful to listen. I have heard example after example of how the person being witnessed to has voiced certain concerns or problems that can easily be directed back to the gospel. It seemed to easy to be true, but for someone as talkative as myself, listening is not a strong suit.

As we made it back to the hotel yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to speak to a gentleman sitting by himself in the lobby. We were both watching baseball and he asked me where I was from. I immediately went to all of the conversations from this afternoon and just simply answered his question, and asked him the same question. He opened the door for conversation. I didn’t have to do anything but answer his question.

A few minutes later I had the opportunity to ask him if I could pray for him. He seemed uncomfortable and asked for me to pray for him and his son. I asked him what was his specific reason for asking for prayer. He responded that he just wanted to be able to provide for him. I could slowly feel the conversation shift to something that would be a very easy gospel presentation, and all I had to do was listen.

Eventually my friend explained that he felt far from God, and wanted to spend more time with him. It was here! A person was literally asking for me to talk to them about God and how to grow closer to him. All I had done was listen to them and ask if I could pray for him.

Remember that God draws, we just simply act as a messenger. He tells us in Luke that if we are rejected, the people are really rejecting him. God has called us to be faithful in proclaiming the gospel. Be confident that he will draw when we are faithful to proclaim.


Blessings,

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monday, June 26, 2017

Monday, June 26, 2017 Monday started at about 10:30 AM. We caught a train and rode over to a local technical college where we met up with some members from the church of the Beloved here in Chicago. We heard testimonies from two Chinese students who had recently come to know the Lord and who were now actively sharing their faith with others. We had planned on staying around the college throughout the day, but for whatever reason there just wasn’t anyone around. We jumped back on the trains and rode back into central Chicago. On the train I decided to read Luke. Luke 1:16-17 really stood out to me: 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. It was a comforting passage in an anxious moment. We were about to step out into a city tha...
1 comment
Read more

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Sunday, June 25, 2017 The very first thing I hear out of the mouth of my little girl is, “Daddy, I don’t want you to leave us.” I immediately began to question why I decided to go to Chicago. There are plenty of other people going on the trip, why did I have to sign up to tag along. In that moment, when she brought me almost to the point of tears, I realized that she doesn’t understand the mission that God has given me as a believer. Over the next few minutes I began to explain to her how there are many people who don’t get to hear about Jesus. They don’t have parents that pray with them. They don’t have anyone to read the Bible to them. I told her that because Jesus loves me, he sent someone to share the gospel with me. I then told her that God was sending her daddy to tell people about Jesus. At that point, crisis was avoided. I no longer had the urge to fight back tears of sadness, but I did still have an anxiety about the trip. As we loaded the car to head to church...
2 comments
Read more

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Tuesday, June 27, 2017 After walking around 10-12 miles on Monday, Tuesday was a much more relaxed day. We are attending the Amplify conference on evangelism in Naperville. I think the big takeaways from the conference yesterday were the following: 1.)     We have been saved for the glory of God, to participate in the mission of God. 2.)     Jesus did not come to be like us, he came so that we would be like him.   3.)     God is patiently drawing people to himself, and he uses us to proclaim the gospel of Christ. 4.)     We are ambassadors for God and our lives should demonstrate holiness. 5.)     No one person is more or less deserving of hearing the gospel. Reflecting back on the events of Monday I realized that one truth was absent as I went out with my group. We operate from the position of power and authority. The creator God has called and saved me, and he is capable of doing th...
Post a Comment
Read more